Link to Reference: YakimaHerald.com, 1/5/06

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Highlights:
- Federal Emergency Management Agency during hurricane relief efforts has taken another hit with news that a million of cans of drinking water donated for evacuees in shelters wound up being dumped into a sewer.
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- Why not give what's not used to other people who would appreciate the gesture? One would think food banks and the like could find a way to pick it up. While the cans of water in this case were donated for hurricane disaster relief shelters, that doesn't mean they couldn't be passed on to others when that need no longer existed. The popularity of bottled water in supermarkets would indicate there should be plenty of takers.

The credibility of the Federal Emergency Management Agency during hurricane relief efforts has taken another hit with news that a million of cans of drinking water donated for evacuees in shelters wound up being dumped into a sewer.

Not only that, FEMA paid to have the unused water taken off its hands when it wasn't dispensed by the time evacuees from Hurricanes Rita and Katrina left shelters in Texas and Louisiana. The water came from various donors, including the Coca-Cola Co.

The Dallas Morning news reported that 18 truckloads of the 12-ounce cans, labeled "Filtered Drinking Water," wound up at a Lake June, Texas, scrap metal business where the water was drained and the flattened cans sent on for recycling. The disaster relief agency paid $250 a truckload to get rid of them.

A FEMA spokesman told the Dallas newspaper that while the agency is grateful for donations to disaster relief agency, when they're not used, the agency has to foot the bill for transportation and disposal.

Why not give what's not used to other people who would appreciate the gesture? One would think food banks and the like could find a way to pick it up. While the cans of water in this case were donated for hurricane disaster relief shelters, that doesn't mean they couldn't be passed on to others when that need no longer existed. The popularity of bottled water in supermarkets would indicate there should be plenty of takers.

What seems to be at play here is a bureaucratic mindset that too often ignores common sense and the human factor. It's reflected in the comment of a FEMA spokesman interviewed by the newspaper: "We didn't need it anymore."

It shouldn't have taken much effort to find those who did.

What a waste of humanitarian efforts by donors who just wanted to help.